Talk:Puffball

Poisonous
Which puffballs are poisonous and how do they "quite distinct"?24.83.178.11 07:19, 3 April 2007 (UTC)BeeCier
 * That could be a useful list in this article, if it's not too large. -Agyle 14:54, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Article needs more references
I added a refimprove tag, as there's only the tree of life website currently cited, and that doesn't contain much of the info in the article. -Agyle 14:54, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

Classification section out of date, or unclear?
The classification section lists three major orders, including parenthetical "related to...", like "Sclerodermatales (related to Boletales)." I don't understand what the "related to" means. Perhaps I'm confused by changes to the taxonomy of mushrooms, but if the order Sclerodermatales used to contain the family Sclerodermataceae (as suggested in thefreedictionary.com), which is now in order Boletales, then it seems the order is Boletales. Perhaps the source cited was obsolete, but since no sources are listed, that can't be checked. (See Scleroderma citrinum for an example of a puffball in order Botales, family Sclerodermatacaea). -Agyle 14:54, 16 September 2007 (UTC)
 * (Update: the article on Scleroderma citrinum which I gave as an example says it's not a puffball, it's an "Earth Ball." This seems at odds with unreliable online references (mushroomexpert.com or a museum website), but its source are older offline books, so perhaps it's correct, or perhaps it's based on obsolete information). -Agyle 15:18, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

puffballs
i love puffballs!!!!!!! they are soo cute!!!!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.112.188.28 (talk) 00:33, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

My Story!!! OMG!
My mom once tolt me how once, when i was about 3 years old, i had a few unpopped puffballs in my mouth. my mom mustve been desperate to get them out!!! I want to know... does anyone know the lethality of ingesting a puffball???-- '''Starkin M. Nyrdi signed this in BL00D!!!!! I AM T3H N00BZ0RZ!!!!!!!!! P4WNED!!!!!!!!!''' 16:46, 24 March 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Starkinator (talk • contribs)

Talk down to us, please,
I'm in my 50s, have a B.A, have an above average I.Q., loved biology and science classes, and yet can't understand this article. I came to learn about puffballs, but the language is too high-level for me. Can someone change this into English, please? Assume most coming to this article won't know a poly...whatever from a gastr...whatever. I couldn't understand 1 out of every 5 words.

I appreciate the fine detail and extensive knowledge from the writer, but it needs a lower level reading level. Thanks. 70.110.234.231 (talk) 20:50, 21 April 2010 (UTC)


 * (I think that's what the Simple English Wikipedia is for...) I've read the first few sentences of this article, and while there are quite a lot of terms, they are defined throughout the article as they are first used. It isn't too bad if you actually read carefully and remember what the terms mean. - M0rphzone (talk) 01:09, 16 April 2012 (UTC)


 * I read and understood the article just fine, and I'm not a Biologist. HappyGod (talk) 01:21, 17 June 2016 (UTC)

evolved... "from hymenomycetes by gasteromycetation, through secotioid stages. "
Goodness! Does this sound sensible, in a general encyclopedia? Expand the sentence with some explanatory clauses, and its information will become available to the generalist reader of Wikipedia.--Wetman (talk) 19:18, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

Habitat/Ecology
I would like to see information on puffball habitat(s) and ecological role (saprophytic?, etc). A big "Thank You" to the experts who create and edit these articles...I really appreciate it. Eupatorium (talk) 17:18, 2 October 2015 (UTC)

The puffballs were previously.......
The second sentence "The puffballs were previously..." seems overly technical when we haven't even described what a puffball is. I moved "The puffballs were previously..." below to the very short second paragraph but this edit was reverted. I would like to move it back there again if no one objects. Volunteer1234 (talk) 02:52, 6 October 2018 (UTC)


 * I think it's confusing to say "A puffball is a fungi in the division Basidiomycota." Besides the sentence having a structural problem with the plural, it's misleading to say they are all in a related group when they are not.  they only share a shape, really. Maybe something like "Puffballs are a number of different groups of somewhat-related fungi that share many physical characteristics." --Nessie (talk) 03:41, 6 October 2018 (UTC)

Reference to Native American's using puffballs for bees
The reference to Native Americans using Puffball smoke to calm bees was interesting to me, as a bee biologist, because the honey bee is not native to North America. Sadly, following through to the original source, it refers only to "country people" using puffball smoke, who I must conclude are not indigenous Americans but rather the progeny of (probably-European) migrants. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=xNEIAQAAIAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&ots=aOiOK86tYA&sig=tEXrAIIxgn5xOx6a5lDhU-GHFt0#v=snippet&q=honey&f=false

Organization
Paragraphs in the lead could be their own section or be moved to the identification section. I would recommend some reorganization of the content for conciseness. Eden825 (talk) 23:39, 27 February 2022 (UTC)

Puffball mushrooms
How could I get read of puffball 108.35.250.4 (talk) 18:38, 27 September 2023 (UTC)